Red Hook Crit Milan No. 6

RED HOOK CRIT MILAN NO.6

Once again, The Aventon Factory team went to Red Hook with high hopes.  With the team hoping to improve on a third place in the Barcelona women’s race and get one of the women on the top step the pressure was on.  The men’s presence was strong with Lucas Binder, Brandon Jones, David Santos, and our new team rider Colin Strickland.  Colin actually got his start in alleycats, and is now racing for the professional Elbowz team on the road, he has raced a few RHC races in the past with his best result a 5th place.   But with Colin and David both on excellent form, and Brandon and Lucas there to ride support,  the chance of taking the top podium spot was high.Colin & David

The women’s race started off fast,  with Sammi and Gretchen always keeping close to the front, and Kym and Esther working hard to stay with the lead group.  Several laps into the race Esther was nowhere to be found,  It can be easy to miss riders as they ride by, as the riders shuffle through the pack, and may not be in the same place as the lap before.   Unfortunately, the next time Esther was seen she was on a stretcher headed into an ambulance. She was checked out by the doctor at the race, who decided it was best to send her to the hospital back X-rays out of an abundance of caution (turned out Esther was just fine). Gretchen also took a spill with 2 laps to go and found herself  off the back of the bunch.  Although Sammi was in the best position with 1 lap to go, without the full support of the team she was only able to pull off an 8th place finish, luckily this was still good enough to earn her a 5th place in the women’s overall, as well as to help  Aventon clinch the women’s team title.Esther & Kym

The beginning of the mens race as told by coach Sean Burke:

“I was looking after Esther at the start of the men’s race and actually missed the first half, but I heard over the loudspeaker that Colin Strickland from Aventon was off the front. I ran over to course to watch the race, and saw that Colin was away  solo with about a 10 second gap and 9 laps remaining. Staying off for the next 9 laps would be a herculean feat, but Colin was looking strong. The gap was holding at around 8-12 seconds for several laps, but with around  4-5 laps to go, the chase sat up for just long enough, and the gap went out to around  20 seconds. I yelled out a “Fuck Yeah!” and the while the rest of the spectators were excited, they still looked at me like I was crazy. I knew that this point, that Colin had the race won.  There was practically zero chance that the group would get organized and fast enough to chase Colin down and this point, and the win was going to be his. Colin crossed the line with 1 to go and had enough time to celebrate a bit on the last lap.  He crossed the line in style: Solo and with hands in the air.”

Colin towards the end of his breakaway

The Aventon Factory team finished off their first RHC campaign with a 5th place in the women’s overall, a win in the women’s team competition, and a win in the men’s race in Milano.  The final race of the year will be the Wolfpack Hustle race  in Austin, where Colin and David will  be joining Colin’s Elbowz  teammate Stefan Rothe to try and take home another Aventon win in the  men’s race,  while Trina and Jen will  help hometown favorite Sammi go for a win in the women’s race.Sammi Runnels

As a company we are immensely proud of the job that this group has done during their first season as a team and naturally we are very excited to see what next year has in store for Aventon Racing.